A World Apart
by random-gal-08
Summary: Last series saw the Doctor and Rose seperated in parallel worlds. Here's my view on what might happen next...
1. A World Apart

**A World Apart**

A man was sitting on the floor beside a deep blue police telephone box. He looked around, not particularly focusing on anything, with empty eyes. Everyone around him could feel an overwhelming sense of loss but they didn't know why. No-one knew who he was. No-one knew his name. He had never felt so alone.

A woman was sitting on the floor. Same shopping centre. Same position. Different world. She looked around with empty eyes, tears trickling down her face. No-one knew who she was. No-one knew her name. She had never felt so alone.

Two people. So close. Yet a world apart. They had been through so much. Danger. Fun. Adventures. Life would never be the same for them again.


	2. A crash landing

It was time, the Doctor decided, that he stopped moping around and started saving the universe once more. He had the Tardis, he reminded himself, and she would never leave him. But recently the Tardis had been 'playing up', trying to break through time barriers to get to Rose whenever the opportunity aroused. She missed her, and so did he. But the world still needed them, with or without Rose Tyler, second greatest time traveller of all time (after the Doctor himself).

He got up, sighed and ran around to the other side of the Tardis. A red light began to swirl but the Doctor, apparently unconcerned, continued to press button after button on the Tardis display panels. She span out of control and he clutched a side rail, preparing himself for a crash landing which indeed followed shortly afterwards.

CRASH... BANG… CHINCK…

The Doctor stood up and paced cautiously towards the Tardis door. He opened it slowly and found himself face to face with someone he hadn't expected to see in a long, long time…


	3. Rose Tyler: The stuff of legends

Jackie Tyler glanced at the clock anxiously. Rose had been due home from work an hour earlier. Work, for Rose Tyler, was the Torchwood Industry. She worked with ancient and mysterious objects and studied life in places not many people knew existed. Unfortunately for her, she had to do all of her research in the comfort of a thirty storey office block in London. She longed to be travelling through time and space with her companion, the Doctor. In comparison, Torchwood bored Rose. It didn't really reach her… potential.

Anyway, Jackie was worried about her daughter. She had never been happy about Rose working at Torchwood. Between you and me, she was very pleased when the Doctor and Rose were split up. No more adventures, she thought, no more danger. But Rose had other ideas. Since joining Torchwood two weeks ago, Rose had been chased by a 3 headed monster, threatened with the sack for outsmarting the boss and found a cure for petrifaction. You had to hand it to her – 2 weeks in the job and everyone there either loved her or hated her.

What Jackie didn't know, was that at this moment in time, Rose was working furiously in her office. She was having a breakthrough, something that mattered to her, something important, something revolutionary.


	4. Speechless

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, its story lines or its characters**

"What on earth are you doing here?" the Doctor gaped. The question went unanswered. "H-How did you get here?" The Doctor stood open mouthed, almost looking thorough the figure in front of him. "T-That's impossible. You're impossible!" A smile spread across the wanderer's face. "Captain Jack is back and he is here to stay!"

"B-But but…" spluttered the Doctor. Jack sighed and raised his hands in mock surrender. At his confused expression, Jack prised the sonic screwdriver from the inside pocket of the Doctor's waistcoat. "My old friend!" he cried, proceeding to thrust the screwdriver into the hands of the Doctor. "Do your thing!" Jack exclaimed. The Doctor, still unsure what to believe, scanned him twice to check for alien technology and to prove that he actually was there, not just a vision. When nothing happened, Jack explained, "I lost all the tech on my way here" he grinned "But you're worth it!" The Doctor looked on in a state of shock and Jack gradually became more and more impatient. He clicked his fingers before the Doctor's eyes repeatedly. "Snap out of it!" he cried, but his actions were to no prevail. He pushed past the motionless man before him and entered the Tardis. "Time for some civilised company and someone being glad to see me would be nice too!" he mumbled.

The door of the Tardis swung open and as Jack entered, buttons flashed and she began to shake violently. Jack patted a side rail, "Hello old girl. I'm back!" He glanced around, searching for Rose, whom he had missed dearly during the time apart. Confused, he re-emerged and stood before the Doctor, whom he found exactly as he left him, muttering cheerfully to himself in undertones. "Doctor?" he asked, "Where's my favourite assistant. Where's Rose?" The Doctor's face clouded over.


	5. A gateway of hope

Rose's concoction hissed and steamed. She glanced at her notes, frowned slightly and looked searchingly through the chemicals at her disposal. The Torchwood institute thought she was working on a new weapon, but this project was on a more personal scale and she was passionate about it. The liquid that sat before her in a conical flask was a cloudy green colour and was fizzing violently. She picked up a bottle of hydrochloric acid and added a few drops to the solution. For several seconds, nothing happened, but then the fizzing subsided and the liquid turned clear. Rose took a sharp intake of breath and her hands shook as she reached out to the conical. It was icy cold to her touch, just as it should be. Satisfied and excited, she took her solution to the corner of the lab and poured into a large metal projector. It made no sound as it hit the sides of the container but expanded until only a few drops filled the entire container which was around 1m². Rose sat in a metal armchair beside the projector and attached 2 suckers to her temples. This was the moment which she had been waiting for since that day, Doomsday, as she liked to call it.

She reached out to her left and pressed a red button on the side of the projector. It whirred and pure, white light projected onto the screen on the opposite side of the lab. Rose trembled with excitement. The liquid had taken her 2 months to perfect, but now it was complete and she knew how ridiculously simple it was to make. She closed her eyes and focused hard on the one thing, the one person who had made her feel like life was worthwhile. His cheeky smile, the way he made things up as he went along, how he made saving the universe so carefree and fun, but most of all, she missed his company and how he made her feel. Around the Doctor she had felt like she was worthy of other people, he made her feel special. These thoughts, and others, flooded through her mind as she focused on him, her Doctor. The light from the projector faded and as Rose opened her eyes a new image appeared. Her Doctor, stood there, right in front of her.

A silent tear escaped and trickled down Rose's face. More followed it as she sat, alone in a world where she did not belong, watching the man she loved re-telling the story of that fateful day. She watched silently as he told someone stood before him about how she had been brave and fearless, right up to the last moment, and how she had been prepared to sacrifice her family for him. Her heart ached as she watched him, not the Doctor she remembered, this Doctor was sadder, lifeless and lost. All because of her. The man listening, whom Rose had before not paid any attention to in her haste to see her companion, turned around and Rose gasped in surprise. Her concentration faded and the connection was lost. Jack. Jack was back. She had saved him. The two people she cared about were alive and well and at that moment Rose Tyler knew that no matter what she would find a way back to them.


	6. Like Tardis, like Time Lord

Jack sat back heavily in the Tardis, trying to take it all in. The ex-conman's head felt that it was likely to implode and, despite himself, Jack chuckled at the thought. The Doctor had gone for a walk, wherever they had landed. Actually, Jack thought, he didn't have a clue where they were. He jumped up, and paced towards the door of the Tardis. He stepped out, lost his footing and dropped suddenly. Jack was left clinging to the edge of the Tardis, which was hovering in mid-air. Jack, against his better judgement, looked down and the sight took his breath away, but not in a good way.

The city itself was beautiful and brightly lighted, just like New New New New York in the 51st century. However, the inhabitants weren't so beautiful. Great brutes, 8 feet tall and 3 feet wide roamed the streets of the strange city, and the Doctor was no-where to be seen. Jack began to panic, he had lost Rose and he now needed the Doctor more than ever before – he was all he had left. Then reason began to set in, the Doctor was one of a kind, unbeatable, he could fight his own battles. But the Doctor was a damaged man, lost without the woman he loved, and Jack had no doubts about that, he certainly loved her. Jack looked up, suddenly remembering that he was about 100 feet above the ground. He hoisted himself back into the Tardis confidently, afraid of nothing, well almost nothing. It was hard to not feel fear when faced with certain 'death by dalek'. Jack shuddered involuntarily at the thought.

"Right!" Jack said to no-one in particular, "Time for action!"

"Awwww do we have to?" the Doctor whined from the depths of the Tardis, "I was enjoying a break!"

"H-How? W-What?" Jack gaped.

"What?" the Doctor asked defensively, "I told you I was only going to be ten minutes. Honestly you're almost as bad as…"

"Rose?" Jack prompted.

"Yeah," the Doctor sighed, "Rose. My Rose."

An awkward silence followed, until both men mentally shook themselves.

"So…um… where did you go?" Jack asked hesitantly.

"For a walk, I told you," the Doctor muttered impatiently, deeply engrossed in the Tardis control panel, too deeply engrossed.

"Look outside Doc," Jack urged him. The Doctor leapt up and walked, much to Jack's surprise, straight out of the Tardis door. He walked across the steel floor to the door and looked out curiously but more careful than previously. The Doctor stood opposite him, just hovering effortlessly in mid-air. Like Tardis, like Time Lord. Jack looked down and the Doctor instinctively copied him. His hearts missed a beat when he looked down onto them city beneath him and another when he realised he was hovering.

"Ok…" he said, "NOT GOOD!" He took a cautious step forward and, when he didn't fall, jumped down hard. When nothing happened, he turned around and gestured to Jack.

"Step out." he encouraged.

"No way!" Jack grinned, "I've already been out once, I fell and only just grabbed the edge of the Tardis.

"Oh ok," the Doctor said thoughtfully, "So why am I still here?"

"Someone wants you there I guess…" Jack muttered, "My guess is that it's those 'things' down there… but I'm obviously not good enough for them," he huffed.


End file.
